“Attribution is an important part of Red River Metis culture. It’s something most of us do without a second thought when we introduce ourselves, explaining where we’re from, listing our family names, allowing others to place us, our art, and our knowledge, in a clear, community context. We do it when we tell a story, explaining where we first heard it, and why we have permission to pass it along. We do it when we do something impressive, acknowledging and thanking those around us who made it possible, understanding our achievements are not wholly our own. Whether these practices are something that we’re explicitly taught, or something we pick up intuitively from those around us, the results are the same. Attribution is a vital, widely respected value, even if we don’t always agree on the specifics of how best to go about it.

Over the course of our history, attribution has developed into an extremely complicated subject, encompassing a wide range of rules and best practices. These protocols can be specific to a context, region, time, or level of formality, and often they are not explicitly communicated until they’ve been violated. Repeated displacements from land and community, plus widespread hardship and disconnection throughout the nadir in the mid-1900s, have meant these ideas and norms have frequently been transmitted without the nuances intact, if they’ve been passed along at all. 

As public figures, Metis artists, authors, and academics often find themselves struggling to respect community values, while still meeting the expectations of the colonial institutions that gatekeep access to opportunities and funding. Though some are carving a path and finding creative solutions, accommodation is rare, and change is needed…”

Read it Here

After months of testing and a truly incredible number of print samples, we’ve finally settled on designs for our logo tees! They come in two tiers, “basic” shirts, in black, for a very affordable $25, and more premium ones, in black and cream, for $38. The sizing on both styles is unisex, and ranges from S to 3XL.

Now available on our shop page!